Internal pics of a Frontalini hybrid concertina from Italy

[MatthewVanitas]

Picked this up cheap recently, and opened it up to check on the rubber gaskets holding the keys to the levers, but turns out there's no such thing on this model and the butons are riveted to the levers.

 

It plays pretty well as-is, decently in tune, just needs new straps, so I put it up on the Sales section as-is to be inexpensive for a novice who wants to do sea shanties or whatnot.

[Daniel Hersh]

Thanks for posting!  The reed pan design looks very German, though with accordion reeds rather than the long-plate aka ganged reeds that you would see on a German concertina from an earlier era. 

 

Does the concertina actually say "made in Italy" somewhere?  And can you add an exterior photo of the extended bellows?

[MatthewVanitas]

1 hour ago, Daniel Hersh said:

Thanks for posting!  The reed pan design looks very German, though with accordion reeds rather than the long-plate aka ganged reeds that you would see on a German concertina from an earlier era. 

 

Does the concertina actually say "made in Italy" somewhere?  And can you add an exterior photo of the extended bellows?

 

It does indeed have "MADE IN ITALY" stamped on it behind one hand-rail.

 

I can get an exterior of the extended bellows tomorrow, no problem.

[Stephen Chambers]

The lever mechanism would remind me of that in cheap Frontalini button accordions from the 1940s/'50s, with integral aluminium pallets twisted 90 degrees out of the lever arm blank:

 

Edited May 4, 2020 by Stephen Chambers
Edited to add photo.

[MatthewVanitas]

10 hours ago, Daniel Hersh said:

  And can you add an exterior photo of the extended bellows?

Bellows photo attached.

[Stephen Chambers]

1 hour ago, MatthewVanitas said:

Bellows photo attached.

 

That's the same bellows colour scheme that you'd expect to find on a black, or dark grey, Italian accordion from the same era.

[Daniel Hersh]

Thanks, Matthew and Stephen.  I wonder if Frontalini could have been the maker of the "Corelli" concertinas that have occasionally been discussed here.

[Stephen Chambers]

57 minutes ago, Daniel Hersh said:

 I wonder if Frontalini could have been the maker of the "Corelli" concertinas that have occasionally been discussed here.

 

That seems quite possible.